Conventional systems for handling foods and beverages on board of an aircraft comprise food carrying trolleys which are filled up on the ground, by standardized menu packages containing foods and beverage packages. These containers are stored in these trolleys which in turn are brought on board prior to departure. On board galleys are equipped with parking positions for these trolleys. The transport of the menu boxes which hold the food, to the individual passengers then takes place with these trolleys along the aisles of the aircraft. The number of boxes storable in the trolleys on board an aircraft is limited by the available parking space for these trolleys in the respective galley area. In order to conventionally increase the storage space in the galley areas, it is necessary, especially in aircraft that carry several hundred passengers, to provide additional parking places for the trolleys with the result that the number of passenger seats must be reduced. This is undesirable.
Furthermore, menu and beverage boxes employed for use in conventional trolleys are not reusable, thereby increasing the problems of garbage removal and disposal.
It is also known to store food to be taken on board, in lower deck areas of the aircraft. Thus, for example, German Patent Publication (DE-PS) 3,245,986 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,787 (Sprenger et al.) issued on Apr. 28, 1987 discloses a food supply system for aircraft comprising at least one pantry cabinet on the passenger deck and a substantial number of supply carts or trolleys on a lower deck below the passenger deck. The known system also includes at least one lifting mechanism such as an elevator for the trolleys, arranged between the pantry cabinet on the passenger deck and the lower deck. The supply trolleys on the lower deck are kept on a platform positioned below the pantry cabinet. In an alternative construction according to the above mentioned U.S. Patent the trolleys are movable on the lower deck by a conveying system positioned below the pantry cabinet so that the supply trolleys are removable from the platform in a selectable manner by the lifting mechanism.
In the known system the supply trolleys must be brought individually on board and placed into the respective parking positions on the platform. When a meal is to be served, the individual trolleys are brought into the kitchen area of the cabin by the above mentioned elevator to make the food ready for distribution to the passengers. This distribution also takes place by pushing the trolleys along the aisles past the individual seating rows. Such a system has the disadvantage that the loading and unloading of the trolleys is quite time consuming and that the arrangement of the platform and of the lifting mechanism or elevator requires a substantial space relative to the quantity of food and beverages that may be handled by such a system. In other words, the space factor relating the sum of the box volumes holding food and beverages to the total volume required for the supply system is not efficient due to the quite bulky trolleys and distribution system components.